Management of enhanced coverage (EC) in fifth generation (5G) systems

ABSTRACT

User equipment (UE) includes processing circuitry. To configure the UE for enhanced coverage (EC) in a 5G network, the processing circuitry is to encode N1 configuration request signaling for transmission to an Access and Mobility Function (AMF) of the 5G network. The N1 configuration request signaling includes an EC support capability indication of whether the UE supports restriction for EC. An N1 configuration response signaling is decoded from the AMF, the N1 configuration response signaling including EC restriction information. The EC restriction information is determined based on the EC support capability indication and subscription information of the UE. An enhanced coverage restriction determination is performed using the EC restriction information. A cell is selected from a plurality of available cells within the 5G network based on the enhanced coverage restriction determination.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit of priority to the U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/630,107, filed Feb. 13, 2018, andentitled “MANAGEMENT OF ENHANCED COVERAGE IN FIFTH GENERATION (5G)SYSTEMS,” which patent application is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects pertain to wireless communications. Some aspects relate towireless networks including 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)networks, 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, 3GPP LTE-A (LTEAdvanced) networks, and fifth-generation (5G) networks including 5G newradio (NR) (or 5G-NR) networks and 5G-LTE networks. Other aspects aredirected to systems and methods for managing enhanced coverage (EC) in5G systems.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voicesystems to today's highly sophisticated integrated communicationplatform. With the increase in different types of devices communicatingwith various network devices, usage of 3GPP LTE systems has increased.The penetration of mobile devices (user equipment or UEs) in modernsociety has continued to drive demand for a wide variety of networkeddevices in a number of disparate environments. Fifth generation (5G)wireless systems are forthcoming and are expected to enable even greaterspeed, connectivity, and usability. Next generation 5G networks (or NRnetworks) are expected to increase throughput, coverage, and robustnessand reduce latency and operational and capital expenditures. 5G-NRnetworks will continue to evolve based on 3GPP LTE-Advanced withadditional potential new radio access technologies (RATs) to enrichpeople's lives with seamless wireless connectivity solutions deliveringfast, rich content and services. As current cellular network frequencyis saturated, higher frequencies, such as millimeter wave (mmWave)frequency, can be beneficial due to their high bandwidth.

Potential LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum includes (and is notlimited to) the LTE operation in the unlicensed spectrum via dualconnectivity (DC), or DC-based LAA, and the standalone LTE system in theunlicensed spectrum, according to which LTE-based technology solelyoperates in unlicensed spectrum without requiring an “anchor” in thelicensed spectrum, called MulteFire. MulteFire combines the performancebenefits of LTE technology with the simplicity of Wi-Fi-likedeployments.

Further enhanced operation of LTE systems in the licensed as well asunlicensed spectrum is expected in future releases and 5G systems. Suchenhanced operations can include techniques to address management ofenhanced coverage (EC) in 5G systems.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. Like numerals havingdifferent letter suffixes may represent different instances of similarcomponents. The figures illustrate generally, by way of example, but notby way of limitation, various aspects discussed in the present document.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network, in accordance withsome aspects.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of an overall next generation (NG)system architecture, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1C illustrates a functional split between next generation radioaccess network (NG-RAN) and the 5G Core network (5GC), in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) architecture, inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 1E illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture in accordancewith some aspects.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication flow diagram for restricting the useof enhanced coverage based on Access and Mobility Function (AMF)-UnifiedData Management (UDM)/Universal Data Repository (UDR) communication, inaccordance with some aspects.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication flow diagram for restricting the useof enhanced coverage based on AMF-Policy Control Function (PCF)communication, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communication flow diagram for enhanced coveragerestriction control using UDM/QDR communication, in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication flow diagram for enhanced coveragerestriction control using PCF communication, in accordance with someaspects.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a new generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrateaspects to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Otheraspects may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, andother changes. Portions and features of some aspects may be included in,or substituted for, those of other aspects. Aspects set forth in theclaims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

FIG. 1A illustrates an architecture of a network in accordance with someaspects. The network 140A is shown to include user equipment (UE) 101and UE 102. The UEs 101 and 102 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g.,handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or morecellular networks) but may also include any mobile or non-mobilecomputing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers,laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, drones, or anyother computing device including a wired and/or wireless communicationsinterface. The UEs 101 and 102 can be collectively referred to herein asUE 101, and UE 101 can be used to perform one or more of the techniquesdisclosed herein.

Any of the radio links described herein (e.g., as used in the network140A or any other illustrated network) may operate according to anyexemplary radio communication technology and/or standard.

LTE and LTE-Advanced are standards for wireless communications ofhigh-speed data for UE such as mobile telephones. In LTE-Advanced andvarious wireless systems, carrier aggregation is a technology accordingto which multiple carrier signals operating on different frequencies maybe used to carry communications for a single UE, thus increasing thebandwidth available to a single device. In some aspects, carrieraggregation may be used where one or more component carriers operate onunlicensed frequencies.

There are emerging interests in the operation of LTE systems in theunlicensed spectrum. As a result, an important enhancement for LTE in3GPP Release 13 has been to enable its operation in the unlicensedspectrum via Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), which expands the systembandwidth by utilizing the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) frameworkintroduced by the LTE-Advanced system. Rel-13 LAA system focuses on thedesign of downlink operation on unlicensed spectrum via CA, while Rel-14enhanced LAA (eLAA) system focuses on the design of uplink operation onunlicensed spectrum via CA.

Aspects described herein can be used in the context of any spectrummanagement scheme including, for example, dedicated licensed spectrum,unlicensed spectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as Licensed SharedAccess (LSA) in 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz, and furtherfrequencies and Spectrum Access System (SAS) in 3.55-3.7 GHz and furtherfrequencies). Applicable exemplary spectrum bands include IMT(International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum (including 450-470MHz, 790-960 MHz, 1710-2025 MHz, 2110-2200 MHz, 2300-2400 MHz, 2500-2690MHz, 698-790 MHz, 610-790 MHz, 3400-3600 MHz, to name a few),IMT-advanced spectrum, IMT-2020 spectrum (expected to include 3600-3800MHz, 3.5 GHz bands, 700 MHz bands, bands within the 24.25-86 GHz range,for example), spectrum made available under the Federal CommunicationsCommission's “Spectrum Frontier” 5G initiative (including 27.5-28.35GHz, 29.1-29.25 GHz, 31-31.3 GHz, 37-38.6 GHz, 38.6-40 GHz, 42-42.5 GHz,57-64 GHz, 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-94 GHz, etc), the ITS(Intelligent Transport Systems) band of 5.9 GHz (typically 5.85-5.925GHz) and 63-64 GHz, bands currently allocated to WiGig such as WiGigBand 1 (57.24-59.40 GHz), WiGig Band 2 (59.40-61.56 GHz), WiGig Band 3(61.56-63.72 GHz), and WiGig Band 4 (63.72-65.88 GHz); the 70.2 GHz-71GHz band; any band between 65.88 GHz and 71 GHz; bands currentlyallocated to automotive radar applications such as 76-81 GHz; and futurebands including 94-300 GHz and above. Furthermore, the scheme can beused on a secondary basis on bands such as the TV White Space bands(typically below 790 MHz) wherein particular the 400 MHz and 700 MHzbands can be employed. Besides cellular applications, specificapplications for vertical markets may be addressed, such as PMSE(Program Making and Special Events), medical, health, surgery,automotive, low-latency, drones, and the like.

Aspects described herein can also be applied to different Single Carrieror OFDM flavors (CP-OFDM, SC-FDMA, SC-OFDM, filter bank-basedmulticarrier (FBMC), OFDMA, etc.) and in particular 3GPP NR (New Radio)by allocating the OFDM carrier data bit vectors to the correspondingsymbol resources.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can comprise anInternet-of-Things (IoT) UE or a Cellular IoT (CIoT) UE, which cancomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. In some aspects, any of the UEs101 and 102 can include a narrowband (NB) IoT UE (e.g., such as anenhanced NB-IoT (eNB-IoT) UE and Further Enhanced (FeNB-IoT) UE). An IoTUE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) ormachine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC serveror device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-BasedService (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network includesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate theconnections of the IoT network.

In some aspects, NB-IoT devices can be configured to operate in a singlephysical resource block (PRB) and may be instructed to retune twodifferent PRBs within the system bandwidth. In some aspects, an eNB-IoTUE can be configured to acquire system information in one PRB, and thenit can retune to a different PRB to receive or transmit data.

In some aspects, any of the UEs 101 and 102 can include enhanced MTC(eMTC) UEs or further enhanced MTC (FeMTC) UEs.

The UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicativelycouple, with a radio access network (RAN) 110. The RAN 110 may be, forexample, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), orsome other type of RAN. The UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and104, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communicationsinterface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example,the connections 103 and 104 are illustrated as an air interface toenable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In some aspects, the network 140A can include a core network (CN) 120.Various aspects of NG RAN and NG Core are discussed herein in referenceto, e.g., FIG. 1B, FIG. 1C, FIG. 1D, and FIG. 1E.

In an aspect, the UEs 101 and 102 may further directly exchangecommunication data via a ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising oneor more logical channels, including but not limited to a PhysicalSidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel(PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a PhysicalSidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 102 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 106via connection 107. The connection 107 can comprise a local wirelessconnection, such as, for example, a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, according to which the AP 106 can comprise a wirelessfidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown to beconnected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of thewireless system (described in further detail below).

The RAN 110 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to asbase stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), Next GenerationNodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, and the like, and can comprise ground stations(e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providingcoverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). In some aspects, thecommunication nodes 111 and 112 can be transmission/reception points(TRPs). In instances when the communication nodes 111 and 112 are NodeBs(e.g., eNBs or gNBs), one or more TRPs can function within thecommunication cell of the NodeBs. The RAN 110 may include one or moreRAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 111, and one ormore RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells havingsmaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidthcompared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 112.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can terminate the air interfaceprotocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102.In some aspects, any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 can fulfill variouslogical functions for the RAN 110 including, but not limited to, radionetwork controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management,uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packetscheduling, and mobility management. In an example, any of the nodes 111and/or 112 can be a new generation node-B (gNB), an evolved node-B(eNB), or another type of RAN node.

In accordance with some aspects, the UEs 101 and 102 can be configuredto communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 111and 112 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OrthogonalFrequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique(e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., foruplink and ProSe for sidelink communications), although such aspects arenot required. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some aspects, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and102, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The gridcan be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequencyresource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in eachslot. Such a time-frequency plane representation may be used for OFDMsystems, which makes it applicable for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid may correspond to one OFDMsymbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of theresource grid in the time domain may correspond to one slot in a radioframe. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid may bedenoted as a resource element. Each resource grid may comprise a numberof resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physicalchannels to resource elements. Each resource block may comprise acollection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may, insome aspects, represent the smallest quantity of resources thatcurrently can be allocated. There may be several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlinkcontrol channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport formatand resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among otherthings. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 about the transportformat, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlinkscheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to theUE 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs101 and 102. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent onthe PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some aspects may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some aspects may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, eachECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs according to some arrangements.

The RAN 110 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network(CN) 120 via an S1 interface 113. In aspects, the CN 120 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN (e.g., as illustrated in reference to FIGS.1B-1I). In this aspect, the S1 interface 113 is split into two parts:the S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes111 and 112 and the serving gateway (S-GW) 122, and the S1-mobilitymanagement entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interfacebetween the RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MMEs 121.

In this aspect, the CN 120 comprises the MMEs 121, the S-GW 122, thePacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123, and a home subscriberserver (HSS) 124. The MMEs 121 may be similar in function to the controlplane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) SupportNodes (SGSN). The MMEs 121 may manage mobility aspects in access such asgateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 124 maycomprise a database for network users, including subscription-relatedinformation to support the network entities' handling of communicationsessions. The CN 120 may comprise one or several HSSs 124, depending onthe number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, onthe organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 124 canprovide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization,naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110, androutes data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. In addition, theS-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities of the S-GW 122 may include a lawful intercept,charging, and some policy enforcement.

The P-GW 123 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 123may route data packets between the EPC network 120 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 184 (alternativelyreferred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP)interface 125. The P-GW 123 can also communicate data to other externalnetworks 131A, which can include the Internet, IP multimedia subsystem(IPS) network, and other networks. Generally, the application server 184may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resourceswith the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PSdata services, etc.). In this aspect, the P-GW 123 is shown to becommunicatively coupled to an application server 184 via an IP interface125. The application server 184 can also be configured to support one ormore communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the CN 120.

The P-GW 123 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 126 is thepolicy and charging control element of the CN 120. In a non-roamingscenario, in some aspects, there may be a single PCRF in the Home PublicLand Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet ProtocolConnectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario witha local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with aUE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a VisitedPCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). ThePCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 184via the P-GW 123. The application server 184 may signal the PCRF 126 toindicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality ofService (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 126 may provision thisrule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown)with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class ofidentifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified bythe application server 184.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a receive (Rx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data reception on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) as wellas for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) measurementsand channel state information (CSI) calculation.

In an example, any of the nodes 111 or 112 can be configured tocommunicate to the UEs 101, 102 (e.g., dynamically) an antenna panelselection and a transmit (Tx) beam selection that can be used by the UEfor data transmission on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) aswell as for sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In some aspects, the communication network 140A can be an IoT network.One of the current enablers of IoT is the narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT).NB-IoT has objectives such as coverage extension, UE complexityreduction, long battery lifetime, and backward compatibility with theLTE network. In addition, NB-IoT aims to offer deployment flexibilityallowing an operator to introduce NB-IoT using a small portion of itsexisting available spectrum, and operate in one of the following threemodalities: (a) standalone deployment (the network operates in re-farmedGSM spectrum); (b) in-band deployment (the network operates within theLTE channel); and (c) guard-band deployment (the network operates in theguard band of legacy LTE channels). In some aspects, such as withfurther enhanced NB-IoT (FeNB-IoT), support for NB-IoT in small cellscan be provided (e.g., in microcell, picocell or femtocell deployments).One of the challenges NB-IoT systems face for small cell support is theUL/DL link imbalance, where for small cells the base stations have lowerpower available compared to macro-cells, and, consequently, the DLcoverage can be affected and/or reduced. In addition, some NB-IoT UEscan be configured to transmit at maximum power if repetitions are usedfor UL transmission. This may result in large inter-cell interference indense small cell deployments.

In some aspects, the UE 101 can support connectivity to a 5G corenetwork (5GCN) and can be configured to operate with Early DataTransmission (EDT) in a communication architecture that supports one ormore of Machine Type Communications (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), furtherenhanced MTC (feMTC), even further enhanced MTC (efeMTC), and narrowbandInternet-of-Things (NB-IoT) communications. When operating with EDT, aphysical random access channel (PRACH) procedure message 3 (MSG3) can beused to carry the short uplink (UL) data and PRACH procedure message 4(MSG4) can be used to carry short downlink (DL) data (if any isavailable). When a UE wants to make a new RRC connection, it firsttransmits one or more preambles, which can be referred to as PRACHprocedure message 1 (MSG1). The MSG4 can also indicate UE to immediatelygo to IDLE mode. For this purpose, the transport block size (TBS)scheduled by the UL grant received for the MSG3 to transmit UL data forEDT needs to be larger than the TBS scheduled by the legacy grant. Insome aspects, the UE can indicate its intention of using the early datatransmission via MSG1 using a separate PRACH resource partition. FromMSG1, eNB knows that it has to provide a grant scheduling TBS valuesthat may differ from legacy TBS for MSG3 in the random-access response(RAR or MSG2) so that the UE can transmit UL data in MSG3 for EDT.However, the eNB may not exactly know what would be the size of UL datathe UE wants to transmit for EDT and how large a UL grant for MSG3 wouldbe needed, though a minimum and a maximum TBS for the UL grant could bedefined. The following two scenarios may occur: (a) The UL grantprovided in RAR is larger than the UL data plus header. In this case,layer 1 needs to add one or more padding bits in the remaining grant.However, transmitting a large number of padding bits (or useless bits)is not power efficient especially in deep coverage where a larger numberof repetitions of transmission is required. (b) Similarly, when the ULgrant provided in RAR is large but falls short to accommodate the ULdata for the EDT, the UE may have to send only the legacy RRC message tofallback to legacy RRC connection. In this case, UE may again need totransmit a number of padding bits, which can be inefficient.

As used herein, the term “PRACH procedure” can be used interchangeablywith the term “Random Access procedure” or “RA procedure”.

In some aspects and as described hereinbelow, UE 101 can be configuredfor enhanced coverage (EC) operation within the system architecture140A. More specifically, UE 101 can communicate EC support capabilities190A to the RAN 110 and the CN 120. For example, the CN 120 can includean AMF entity (e.g., AMF 132 in FIG. 1B) and the EC support capabilities190A of UE 101 can be communicated to the AMF entity via an N1interface. The EC support capabilities 190A can indicate whether or notUE 101 supports a restriction of EC. EC restriction information 192A canbe communicated back to the UE 101 based on the EC support capabilities190A, UE subscription information, UE usage settings, PLMN policyassociated with CN 120, and/or other factors. The EC restrictioninformation 192A can indicate whether coverage enhancement (CE) mode Bis restricted for UE 101, whether both CE mode A and CE mode B arerestricted for the UE, or whether both CE mode A and CE mode B are notrestricted for the UE.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram of a next generation (NG) systemarchitecture 140B in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1B,the NG system architecture 140B includes RAN 110 and a 5G network core(5GC) 120. The NG-RAN 110 can include a plurality of nodes, such as gNBs128 and NG-eNBs 130.

The core network 120 (e.g., a 5G core network or 5GC) can include anaccess and mobility function (AMF) 132 and/or a user plane function(UPF) 134. The AMF 132 and the UPF 134 can be communicatively coupled tothe gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 via NG interfaces. More specifically,in some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be connected tothe AMF 132 by NG-C interfaces, and to the UPF 134 by NG-U interfaces.The gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be coupled to each other via Xninterfaces.

In some aspects, a gNB 128 can include a node providing new radio (NR)user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and isconnected via the NG interface to the 5GC 120. In some aspects, anNG-eNB 130 can include a node providing evolved universal terrestrialradio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminationstowards the UE and is connected via the NG interface to the 5GC 120.

In some aspects, the NG system architecture 140B can use referencepoints between various nodes as provided by 3GPP Technical Specification(TS) 23.501 (e.g., V15.4.0, 2018-12).

In some aspects, each of the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can beimplemented as a base station, a mobile edge server, a small cell, ahome eNB, and so forth.

In some aspects, node 128 can be a master node (MN) and node 130 can bea secondary node (SN) in a 5G architecture. The MN 128 can be connectedto the AMF 132 via an NG-C interface and to the SN 128 via an XN-Cinterface. The MN 128 can be connected to the UPF 134 via an NG-Uinterface and to the SN 128 via an XN-U interface.

FIG. 1C illustrates a functional split between NG-RAN and the 5G Core(5GC) in accordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1C, there isillustrated a more detailed diagram of the functionalities that can beperformed by the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 within the NG-RAN 110, aswell as the AMF 132, the UPF 134, and the SMF 136 within the 5GC 120. Insome aspects, the 5GC 120 can provide access to the Internet 138 to oneor more devices via the NG-RAN 110.

In some aspects, the gNBs 128 and the NG-eNBs 130 can be configured tohost the following functions: functions for Radio Resource Management(e.g., inter-cell radio resource management 129A, radio bearer control129B, connection mobility control 129C, radio admission control 129D,dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink(scheduling) 129F); IP header compression, encryption and integrityprotection of data; selection of an AMF at UE attachment when no routingto an AMF can be determined from the information provided by the UE;routing of User Plane data towards UPF(s); routing of Control Planeinformation towards AMF; connection setup and release; scheduling andtransmission of paging messages (originated from the AMF); schedulingand transmission of system broadcast information (originated from theAMF or Operation and Maintenance); measurement and measurement reportingconfiguration for mobility and scheduling 129E; transport level packetmarking in the uplink; session management; support of network slicing;QoS flow management and mapping to data radio bearers; support of UEs inRRC_INACTIVE state; distribution function for non-access stratum (NAS)messages; radio access network sharing; dual connectivity; and tightinterworking between NR and E-UTRA, to name a few.

In some aspects, the AMF 132 can be configured to host the followingfunctions, for example: NAS signaling termination; NAS signalingsecurity 133A; access stratum (AS) security control; inter-core network(CN) node signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks; idlestate/mode mobility handling 133B, including mobile device, such as a UEreachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission);registration area management; support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility; access authentication; access authorization including check ofroaming rights; mobility management control (subscription and policies);support of network slicing; and/or SMF selection, among other functions.

The UPF 134 can be configured to host the following functions, forexample: mobility anchoring 135A (e.g., anchor point forIntra-/Inter-RAT mobility); packet data unit (PDU) handling 135B (e.g.,external PDU session point of interconnect to data network); packetrouting and forwarding; packet inspection and user plane part of policyrule enforcement; traffic usage reporting; uplink classifier to supportrouting traffic flows to a data network; branching point to supportmulti-homed PDU session; QoS handling for user plane, e.g., packetfiltering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement; uplink traffic verification(SDF to QoS flow mapping); and/or downlink packet buffering and downlinkdata notification triggering, among other functions.

The Session Management function (SMF) 136 can be configured to host thefollowing functions, for example: session management; UE IP addressallocation and management 137A; selection and control of user planefunction (UPF); PDU session control 137B, including configuring trafficsteering at UPF 134 to route traffic to proper destination; control partof policy enforcement and QoS; and/or downlink data notification, amongother functions.

FIG. 1D illustrates an example Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity (EN-DC) architecture, inaccordance with some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1D, the EN-DCarchitecture 140D includes radio access network (or E-TRA network, orE-TRAN) 110 and EPC 120. The EPC 120 can include MMEs 121 and S-GWs 122.The E-UTRAN 110 can include nodes 111 (e.g., eNBs) as well as EvolvedUniversal Terrestrial Radio Access New Radio (EN) next generationevolved Node-Bs (en-gNBs) 128.

In some aspects, en-gNBs 128 can be configured to provide NR user planeand control plane protocol terminations towards the UE 102 and acting asSecondary Nodes (or SgNBs) in the EN-DC communication architecture 140D.The eNBs 111 can be configured as master nodes (or MeNBs) and the eNBs128 can be configured as secondary nodes (or SgNBs) in the EN-DCcommunication architecture 140D. As illustrated in FIG. 1D, the eNBs 111are connected to the EPC 120 via the S1 interface and to the EN-gNBs 128via the X2 interface. The EN-gNBs (or SgNBs) 128 may be connected to theEPC 120 via the S1-U interface, and to other EN-gNBs via the X2-Uinterface. The SgNB 128 can communicate with the UE 102 via a UUinterface (e.g., using signaling radio bearer type 3, or SRB3communications as illustrated in FIG. 1D), and with the MeNB 111 via anX2 interface (e.g., X2-C interface). The MeNB 111 can communicate withthe UE 102 via a UU interface.

Even though FIG. 1D is described in connection with EN-DC communicationenvironment, other types of dual connectivity communicationarchitectures (e.g., when the UE 102 is connected to a master node and asecondary node) can also use the techniques disclosed herein.

In some aspects, the MeNB 111 can be connected to the MME 121 via S1-MMEinterface and to the SgNB 128 via an X2-C interface. In some aspects,the MeNB 111 can be connected to the SGW 122 via S1-U interface and tothe SgNB 128 via an X2-U interface. In some aspects associated with dualconnectivity (DC) and/or MultiRate-DC (MR-DC), the Master eNB (MeNB) canoffload user plane traffic to the Secondary gNB (SgNB) via split beareror SCG (Secondary Cell Group) split bearer.

FIG. 1E illustrates a non-roaming 5G system architecture in accordancewith some aspects. Referring to FIG. 1E, there is illustrated a 5Gsystem architecture 140E in a reference point representation. Morespecifically, UE 102 can be in communication with RAN 110 as well as oneor more other 5G core (5GC) network entities. The 5G system architecture140E includes a plurality of network functions (NFs), such as access andmobility management function (AMF) 132, session management function(SMF) 136, policy control function (PCF) 148, application function (AF)150, user plane function (UPF) 134, network slice selection function(NSSF) 142, authentication server function (AUSF) 144, and unified datamanagement (UDM)/home subscriber server (HSS) 146. The UPF 134 canprovide a connection to a data network (DN) 152, which can include, forexample, operator services, Internet access, or third-party services.The AMF 132 can be used to manage access control and mobility and canalso include network slice selection functionality. The SMF 136 can beconfigured to set up and manage various sessions according to a networkpolicy. The UPF 134 can be deployed in one or more configurationsaccording to a desired service type. The PCF 148 can be configured toprovide a policy framework using network slicing, mobility management,and roaming (similar to PCRF in a 4G communication system). The UDM canbe configured to store subscriber profiles and data (similar to an HSSin a 4G communication system).

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E includes an IPmultimedia subsystem (IMS) 168E as well as a plurality of IP multimediacore network subsystem entities, such as call session control functions(CSCFs). More specifically, the IMS 168E includes a CSCF, which can actas a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) 162E, a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) 164E, anemergency CSCF (E-CSCF) (not illustrated in FIG. 1E), or interrogatingCSCF (I-CSCF) 166E. The P-CSCF 162E can be configured to be the firstcontact point for the UE 102 within the IM subsystem (IMS) 168E. TheS-CSCF 164E can be configured to handle the session states in thenetwork, and the E-CSCF can be configured to handle certain aspects ofemergency sessions such as routing an emergency request to the correctemergency center or PSAP. The I-CSCF 166E can be configured to functionas the contact point within an operator's network for all IMSconnections destined to a subscriber of that network operator, or aroaming subscriber currently located within that network operator'sservice area. In some aspects, the I-CSCF 166E can be connected toanother IP multimedia network 170E, e.g. an IMS operated by a differentnetwork operator.

In some aspects, the UDM/HSS 146 can be coupled to an application server160E, which can include a telephony application server (TAS) or anotherapplication server (AS). The AS 160E can be coupled to the IMS 168E viathe S-CSCF 164E or the I-CSCF 166E. In some aspects, the 5G systemarchitecture 140E can use unified access barring mechanism using one ormore of the techniques described herein, which access barring mechanismcan be applied for all RRC states of the UE 102, such as RRC_IDLE,RRC_CONNECTED, and RRC_INACTIVE states.

In some aspects, the 5G system architecture 140E can be configured touse 5G access control mechanism techniques described herein, based onaccess categories that can be categorized by a minimum default set ofaccess categories, which are common across all networks. Thisfunctionality can allow the public land mobile network PLMN, such as avisited PLMN (VPLMN) to protect the network against different types ofregistration attempts, enable acceptable service for the roamingsubscriber and enable the VPLMN to control access attempts aiming atreceiving certain basic services. It also provides more options andflexibility to individual operators by providing a set of accesscategories, which can be configured and used in operator-specific ways.

A reference point representation shows that interaction can existbetween corresponding NF services. For example, FIG. 1E illustrates thefollowing reference points: N1 (between the UE 102 and the AMF 132), N2(between the RAN 110 and the AMF 132), N3 (between the RAN 110 and theUPF 134), N4 (between the SMF 136 and the UPF 134), N5 (between the PCF148 and the AF 150, not shown), N6 (between the UPF 134 and the DN 152),N7 (between the SMF 136 and the PCF 148, not shown), N8 (between the UDM146 and the AMF 132, not shown), N9 (between two UPFs 134, not shown),N10 (between the UDM 146 and the SMF 136, not shown), N11 (between theAMF 132 and the SMF 136, not shown), N12 (between the AUSF 144 and theAMF 132, not shown), N13 (between the AUSF 144 and the UDM 146, notshown), N14 (between two AMFs 132, not shown), N15 (between the PCF 148and the AMF 132 in case of a non-roaming scenario, or between the PCF148 and a visited network and AMF 132 in case of a roaming scenario, notshown), N16 (between two SMFs, not shown), and N22 (between AMF 132 andNSSF 142, not shown). Other reference point representations not shown inFIG. 1E can also be used.

In some aspects, both NB-IoT and WB-E-UTRA, with enhancements for MTCradio access technologies can be used in 5G to provide radio accesssupport for massive IoT. Both of these RATs support enhanced coverage(EC) based on radio signal repetitions. Radio signal repetition iscostly and, therefore, management of the EC functionalities is importantfrom an overall system cost perspective.

In some aspects, the following functionalities can be supported in awireless architecture with EC: enable an Application Server/Function toquery the status of the enhanced coverage restriction for a UE; meansfor the 5GC to restrict UE usage of the EC feature; enable anApplication Server/Function to enable, or to disable the EC restrictionfor a particular UE; temporary storage of 10 o RAN parameters in 5GC,related to the EC feature; indication of UE capability of CE mode Bsupport to the 5GC; and storage of restriction of use of EC as part ofsubscription parameter in UDM.

Support of Enhanced Coverage

In some aspects, UE 101 can be configured to indicate its capability ofsupport for Enhanced Coverage (or EC support capabilities 190A) (i.e.,CE mode B capability support) to the AMF over N1 signaling (e.g., duringthe Initial Registration, or using a Periodic Registration requestmessage, or using a service request message). The AMF stores the UEcapability of support for enhanced coverage in the UE context at theAMF.

In some aspects, the UE may also indicate its capability for CE mode Asupport (i.e., CE mode A capability support indication) eitherseparately or together with CE mode B capability support indicationusing an N1 signaling message to the AMF (e.g., during an initialregistration request, a periodic registration request message, or aservice request message).

Support of Restriction of Use of Enhanced Coverage

In some aspects, the usage of EC may require the use of extensiveresources (e.g. radio and signaling resources) from the network.Specific subscribers can be restricted to use the EC feature throughEnhanced Coverage Restriction information that is stored in the UDM aspart of subscription data and specifies per PLMN whether the ECfunctionality is restricted or not for the UE. The Enhanced CoverageRestriction information indicates whether CE mode B is restricted forthe UE, or both CE mode A and CE mode B is restricted for the UE, orboth CE mode A and CE mode B is not restricted for the UE.

In some aspects, the AMF receives the Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation from the UDM during a registration procedure. The AMF, basedon local configuration, UE usage setting, UE subscription informationand network policies, or any combination thereof, determines whetherEnhanced Coverage (i.e., CE mode B, or both CE mode B and CE mode A) isrestricted for the UE and stored updated Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation in the UE context in the AMF. If the UE usage settingindicated that UE is “voice-centric” then the AMF can set CE mode Brestricted for the UE in the Enhanced Coverage restriction information.

In some aspects, the AMF sends Enhanced Coverage Restriction information(e.g., 192A) to the UE in the Registration Accept message. The UE canuse the Enhanced Coverage Restriction information to determine ifEnhanced Coverage is restricted or not. The AMF can provide an EnhancedCoverage Restriction information to the (R)AN via N2 signaling wheneverthe UE context is established in the RAN, e.g., during an N2 Pagingprocedure, a Service Request procedure, an initial Registration, or aperiodic Registration procedure.

In some aspects, for roaming UEs, if the UDM does not provide anyEnhanced Coverage Restriction information or the provided EnhancedCoverage Restriction information is in conflict with the roamingagreement, the AMF can use default Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation locally configured in the VPLMN based on the roamingagreement with the subscriber's HPLMN.

In some aspects, the UE that indicates its support for EC over an N1interface can also support restriction of EC over the N1 interface. TheUE can assume that restriction for use of EC is the same in theequivalent PLMNs.

In some aspects, the AMF may provide Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation on per S-NSSAI basis or on per DNN basis. For Example, ifthe UE is attached to Single Network Slice Selection AssistanceInformation (S-NSSAI) #1, Enhanced Coverage may be restricted, while forS-NSSAI #2 Enhanced Coverage may not be restricted. Similarly, for adata network name (DNN), if the UE is attached to DNN #1, EnhancedCoverage may be restricted while for DNN #2 Enhanced Coverage may not berestricted.

In some aspects, the UE may be configured for precedence rule. ForExample, if the UE is attached to S-NSSAI #1, which has EnhancedCoverage restricted, then it may be restricted (or not restricted) forall S-NSSAIs. The same example applies to DNN.

In some aspects, UDM may also store CE level (e.g., CE level 1-4)information as part of subscription data, and can provide suchinformation to the AMF along with Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation. The AMF may also provide CE level information to the UEover N1 signaling and to (R)AN over N2 signaling.

In some aspects, Enhanced Coverage restriction information may bereferred to with different terms, such as Enhanced Coverage restrictionparameter, Enhanced Coverage Restricted information, Enhanced Coveragerestriction indication, CE mode B restriction parameter, CE mode Brestriction indication, and so forth.

In some aspects, Enhanced Coverage restriction information may bereceived by PCF from UDM/UDR. The AMF receives Enhanced CoverageRestriction information from the PCF during the Registration procedure(i.e., Policy Association establishment between AMF and PCF duringregistration). The AMF may, based on local configuration, UE Usagesetting, UE subscription information and network policies, or anycombination thereof, determine whether Enhanced Coverage (i.e., CE modeB or both CE mode B and CE mode A) is restricted for the UE, and maystore updated Enhanced Coverage restriction information in the UEcontext at the AMF. If the UE usage setting indicates that the UE is“voice-centric”, then the AMF may set CE mode B restricted for the UE inthe Enhanced Coverage restriction information.

Support of EPC Interworking

IDLE Mode Aspects

In some aspects, when the UE moves from a 5GS to EPS, the UE contextinformation sent by AMF to MME may include the Enhanced CoverageRestriction information. The MME may determine an Enhanced CoverageRestriction parameter and CE mode B restricted parameter from theEnhanced Coverage Restriction information and may store it in the MME'sMM context.

In some aspects, when the UE moves from EPS to 5GS, the MME's MM contextinformation sent by the MME to the AMF includes the Enhanced CoverageRestriction parameter and a CE mode B restricted parameter. The AMF maydetermine Enhanced Coverage Restriction information from the CE mode Brestricted parameter and the Enhanced Coverage Restriction parameter andmay store it in the UE context at the AMF.

CONNECTED Mode Aspects

In some aspects, when a UE is CM-CONNECTED in 5GC and a handover to EPSoccur, source eNB can provide Enhanced Coverage Restriction informationto the target eNB. In some aspects, when a UE is CM-CONNECTED in EPS anda handover to 5GC occur, the source eNB can provide Enhanced CoverageRestriction information to the target eNB.

RRC INACTIVE Aspects

In some aspects, if the UE is in CM-CONNECTED with RRC INACTIVE, thenthe (R)AN node may page the UE based on the available Enhanced CoverageRestriction Information and optionally available CE level information.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication flow diagram for restricting the useof enhanced coverage based on AMF-UDM/UDR communication, in accordancewith some aspects. More specifically, the communication flow diagram 200can take place between the following network entities: UE 101, RAN 110,AMF 132 and UDM/UDR 202. The UDM 202 can be the same as UDM/HSS 146 inFIG. 1E. UDR can be a universal data repository within a 5Garchitecture.

At operation 204, the UE 101 communicates N1 registration requestmessage to the AMF 132 with UE Enhanced Coverage (EC) support capabilityindication. At operation 206, the AMF 132 retrieves the subscriptiondata for the UE from the UDM 202 using, e.g., Nudm_SDM_Get serviceoperation. The UDM 202 may retrieve this information from a UDR by,e.g., a Nudr_UDM_Query (Access and Mobility Subscription data). Theretrieved information also includes the Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation (i.e. CE mode B is restricted for the UE, or both CE mode Aand CE mode B are restricted for the UE, or both CE mode A and CE mode Bare not restricted for the UE).

At operation 208, the AMF 132, based on local configuration, UE usagesetting, UE subscription information, and network policies, or anycombination thereof, determines whether EC (i.e., CE mode B or both CEmode B and CE mode A) is restricted for the UE, and stores updated ECrestriction information in the UE context at the AMF.

At operation 212, the AMF 132 communicates the Enhanced CoverageRestriction information to the UE 101 in a Registration Accept message(or another type of message). At operation 210, the AMF 132 alsoprovides the EC Restriction information to the RAN 110 via, e.g., N2signaling.

At operation 214, the UE can use the Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation to determine if Enhanced Coverage is restricted or not. ARAN cell can be selected based on the EC restriction determination.

In some aspects, different or new service operations may be used betweenthe UDM and the AMF for carrying Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication flow diagram for restricting the useof enhanced coverage based on AMF-PCF communication, in accordance withsome aspects. More specifically, the communication flow diagram 300 cantake place between the following network entities: UE 101, RAN 110, AMF132 and PCF 148.

At operation 304, the UE 101 sends an N1 registration request message(or another type of message) to the AMF 132 with the UE EnhancedCoverage (EC) support capability indication. At operation 306, the AMF132 retrieves the subscription data for the UE from the PCF 148 using,e.g., Npcf_AMPloicyControl ( ) service operation. The PCF 148 canreceive this information from the UDR via, e.g., Nudr_UDM_Query (Accessand Mobility Subscription data). This information can also include theEnhanced Coverage Restriction information (i.e., CE mode B is restrictedfor the UE, or both CE mode A and CE mode B is restricted for the UE, orboth CE mode A and CE mode B is not restricted for the UE).

At operation 308, the AMF 132, based on local configuration, UE usagesetting, UE subscription information, and network policies, or anycombination thereof, determines whether Enhanced Coverage (i.e., CE modeB or both CE mode B and CE mode A) is restricted for the UE, and storesthe updated Enhanced Coverage restriction information in the UE contextmanaged by the AMF.

At operation 312, the AMF 132 communicates the Enhanced CoverageRestriction information to the UE in, e.g., a Registration Acceptmessage (or another type of message) via an N1 interface. At operation310, the AMF 132 can also provide an Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation to the RAN via N2 signaling. At operation 314, the UE canuse the Enhanced Coverage Restriction information to determine whetheror not EC is restricted.

In some aspects, different or new service operation may be used betweenPCF and AMF for carrying Enhanced Coverage restriction information.

In some aspects, EC restriction may be controlled via NEF, which canenable 3^(rd) party service providers to query the status of enhancedcoverage restriction or enable/disable enhanced coverage restriction perindividual UEs.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communication flow diagram for enhanced coveragerestriction control using UDM/QDR communication, in accordance with someaspects. More specifically, the communication flow diagram 400 can takeplace between the following network entities: UE 101, UDM/UDR 402, NEF404, and application server (AS) or application function (AF) 406. TheUDM 402 can be the same as UDM/HSS 146 in FIG. 1E. UDR can be auniversal data repository within a 5G architecture.

At operation 408, the AF/AS 406 uses, e.g., Nnef_ECRestriction_Update () request service operation in order to enable/disable Enhanced Coveragerestriction, or uses, e.g., Nnef_ECRestriction_Status_Get ( ) serviceoperation to query the status of enhanced coverage restriction. Bothservice operations can include an External Identifier or MSISDN andAS/AF Identifier as required input. Enhanced Coverage Restriction Dataprovides an indication to either enable or disable the enhanced coveragerestriction and is required input for Nnef_ECRestriction_Update ( )request service operation only.

At operation 410, if either the AS/AF 406 is not authorized to performthis request (e.g., if the service level agreement or SLA does not allowfor it), or the AS/AF 406 has exceeded its quota or rate of submittingEnhanced Coverage requests, the NEF 404 indicates service operationfailure to the AS/AF 406 with appropriate cause code and the flow stopshere. Otherwise, the flow continues to operation 412.

At operation 412, the NEF 404 uses Nudm_SDM_Update ( ) service operationto update the subscription data for Enhanced Coverage restriction. TheNEF 404 uses Nudm_SDM_Get ( ) service operation to query the status offor Enhanced Coverage restriction. The UDM 404 may retrieve thisinformation from the UDR by using, e.g., an Nudr_UDM_Query ( ) serviceoperation.

At operation 414, for Nudm_SDM_Update ( ) when the subscriber data forEnhanced Coverage restriction is updated at the UDM, the serving NF(i.e., AMF in this case) is notified with the updated Enhanced Coveragerestriction information in the subscription data. The AMF may subscribefor the notification for Enhanced Coverage restriction informationchange.

In aspects when the Nudm_SDM_Get ( ) service operation is used,operations 416 and 418 are skipped.

At operation 416, the UDM 402 uses, e.g., Nudm_SDM_Notification ( )service operation and provides the AMF with updated Enhanced Coveragerestriction information.

At operation 418, the AMF 132 updates the Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation stored in the UE context at the AMF. The AMF 132 cantransfer the Enhanced Coverage Restriction Information stored as part ofits UE context during an AMF change. The UE can be informed of theupdated Enhanced Coverage Restricted information at the nextRegistration procedure, or based on the local policy, the network cande-register the UE indicating re-registration is required.

At operation 420, the UDM 402 communicates a response of Nudm_SDM_Update( )/Nudm_SDM_Get ( ) service operation to the NEF 404.

At operation 422, the NEF 404 communicates a response ofNnef_ECRestriction_Update ( )/Nnef_ECRestriction_Status_Get ( ) serviceoperation to the AS/AF 406.

Service operations discussed above are examples. In some aspects,different or new service operations may be used between differentnetwork function (e.g. between AS/AF<->NEF, NEF<->UDM, UDM<->AMF) toquery status of enhanced coverage restriction or enable/disable enhancedcoverage restriction per individual UEs.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication flow diagram for enhanced coveragerestriction control using PCF communication, in accordance with someaspects. More specifically, the communication flow diagram 500 can takeplace between the following network entities: UE 101, PCF 148, NEF 504,and AS/AF 506.

At operation 508, the AF/AS 506 uses, e.g., an Nnef_ECRestriction_Update( ) request service operation in order to enable/disable EnhancedCoverage restriction, or uses, e.g., an Nnef_ECRestriction_Status_Get () service operation to query the status of enhanced coveragerestriction. Both service operations include External Identifier orMSISDN and AS/AF Identifier as required input. Enhanced CoverageRestriction Data provides an indication to either enable or disable theenhanced coverage restriction, and can be required input for theNnef_ECRestriction_Update ( ) request service operation only.

At operation 510, if either the AS/AF 506 is not authorized to performthis request (e.g., if the SLA does not allow for it), or the AS/AF 506has exceeded its quota or rate of submitting Enhanced Coverage requests,the NEF 504 indicates service operation failure to the AS/AF 506 withappropriate cause code and flow stops here. Otherwise, the processingflow can continue to operation 512.

At operation 512, the NEF 504 uses, e.g., anNpcf_Policy_Authorization_Update ( ) service operation to update theEnhanced Coverage restriction policy at the PCF 148. The NEF 504 uses,e.g., an Npcf_Policy_Authorization_Get ( ) service operation to querythe status of for Enhanced Coverage restriction policy at the PCF 148.The PCF 148 may retrieve this information from the UDR by using, e.g.,an Nudr_UDM_Query ( ) service operation.

At operation 514, for Npcf_Policy_Authorization_Update ( ) when thesubscriber data for Enhanced Coverage restriction is updated at the PCF148, the serving NF (i.e., the AMF in this case) is notified with theupdated Enhanced Coverage restriction information. The AMF 132 maysubscribe for the notification for Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation change with the PCF 148.

In aspects when an Nudm_SDM_Get ( ) service operation is used,operations 516 and 518 are skipped.

At operation 516, the PCF 148 uses, e.g., an Npcf_AMPolicyControl_Update( ) service operation and provides the AMF 132 with updated EnhancedCoverage restriction information.

At operation 518, the AMF 132 updates Enhanced Coverage restrictioninformation stored in the UE context at the AMF. The AMF 132 cantransfer the Enhanced Coverage Restricted Information stored as part ofits UE context during an AMF change. In some aspects, the UE is informedof the updated Enhanced Coverage Restricted information at the nextregistration procedure or based on the local policy the network cande-register the UE indicating re-registration is required.

At operation 520, the PCF 148 communicates a response of theNpcf_Policy_Authorization_Update ( )/Npcf_Policy_Authorization_Get ( )service operation to the NEF 504.

At operation 522, the NEF 504 communicates a response of theNnef_ECRestriction_Update ( )/Nnef_ECRestriction_Status_Get ( ) serviceoperation to the AS/AF 506.

Service operations discussed above are examples. In some aspects,different or new service operations may be used between differentnetwork function (e.g. between AS/AF<->NEF, NEF<->PCF, PCF<->AMF) toquery status of enhanced coverage restriction or enable/disable enhancedcoverage restriction per individual UEs.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by a UE in connectionwith EC-related functions: provide Enhanced Coverage support capabilityindication to the AMF; receive Enhanced Coverage Restriction Informationas part of N1 procedure (i.e., during an initial or periodicRegistration Accept); and store Enhanced Coverage RestrictionInformation per PLMN and use Enhanced Coverage mode based on EnhancedCoverage restriction Information provided by the AMF.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by a RAN in connectionwith EC-related functions: receives an Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation from the AMF via N2 signalling whenever the UE context isestablished in the RAN, e.g., during N2 Paging procedure, ServiceRequest procedure, initial registration, and periodic registrationprocedure; and determine whether the UE is restricted to operate inEnhanced Coverage mode based on the Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation provided by the AMF.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by an AMF in connectionwith EC-related functions: receive Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation as part of subscription data from the UDM; based on localconfiguration, UE usage setting, UE subscription information and networkpolicies, or any combination thereof, determine whether EnhancedCoverage (i.e. CE mode B or both CE mode B and CE mode A) is restrictedfor the UE; store Enhanced Coverage Restriction information as part ofthe UE context in the AMF; provide an Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation to the UE via N1 signalling (i.e. during N2 during initialRegistration and periodic Registration procedure); and provide anEnhanced Coverage Restriction information to the (R)AN via N2 signallingwhenever the UE context is established in the RAN, e.g., during an N2paging procedure, a service request procedure, an initial registration,and a periodic registration procedure.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by an UDM/UDR inconnection with EC-related functions: contains Enhanced CoverageRestriction information as part of subscription data; UDM may retrievesuch data from the UDR; support new Nudm_SDM_Update ( ) serviceoperation with NEF as consumer to update the subscription data forEnhanced Coverage restriction; and interface with NEF to provide statusof Enhanced Coverage restriction using updated Nudm_SDM_Update ( )service operation with NEF as consumer.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by a NEF in connectionwith EC-related functions: support new Nnef_ECRestriction_Update ( )request service operation with AS/AF as consumer in order toenable/disable Enhanced Coverage restriction; and support newNnef_ECRestriction_Status_Get ( ) service operation with AS/AF asconsumer to query the status of enhanced coverage restriction.

In some aspects, the following can be performed by a PCF in connectionwith EC-related functions: contains Enhanced Coverage Restrictioninformation policy (PCF can retrieve it from the UDR); support newservice operation with NEF as consumer to update the subscription datafor Enhanced Coverage restriction; interface with NEF to provide statusof Enhanced Coverage restriction using new service operation with NEF asconsumer; and interface with AMF to provide Enhanced Coveragerestriction policy.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a communication device such as anevolved Node-B (eNB), a next generation Node-B (gNB), an access point(AP), a wireless station (STA), a mobile station (MS), or a userequipment (UE), in accordance with some aspects and to perform one ormore of the techniques disclosed herein. In alternative aspects, thecommunication device 600 may operate as a standalone device or may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other communication devices.

Circuitry (e.g., processing circuitry) is a collection of circuitsimplemented intangible entities of the device 600 that include hardware(e.g., simple circuits, gates, logic, etc.). Circuitry membership may beflexible over time. Circuitries include members that may, alone or incombination, perform specified operations when operating. In an example,the hardware of the circuitry may be immutably designed to carry out aspecific operation (e.g., hardwired). In an example, the hardware of thecircuitry may include variably connected physical components (e.g.,execution units, transistors, simple circuits, etc.) including amachine-readable medium physically modified (e.g., magnetically,electrically, moveable placement of invariant massed particles, etc.) toencode instructions of the specific operation.

In connecting the physical components, the underlying electricalproperties of a hardware constituent are changed, for example, from aninsulator to a conductor or vice versa. The instructions enable embeddedhardware (e.g., the execution units or a loading mechanism) to createmembers of the circuitry in hardware via the variable connections tocarry out portions of the specific operation when in operation.Accordingly, in an example, the machine-readable medium elements arepart of the circuitry or are communicatively coupled to the othercomponents of the circuitry when the device is operating. In an example,any of the physical components may be used in more than one member ofmore than one circuitry. For example, under operation, execution unitsmay be used in a first circuit of a first circuitry at one point in timeand reused by a second circuit in the first circuitry, or by a thirdcircuit in a second circuitry at a different time. Additional examplesof these components with respect to the device 600 follow.

In some aspects, the device 600 may operate as a standalone device ormay be connected (e.g., networked) to other devices. In a networkeddeployment, the communication device 600 may operate in the capacity ofa server communication device, a client communication device, or both inserver-client network environments. In an example, the communicationdevice 600 may act as a peer communication device in peer-to-peer (P2P)(or other distributed) network environment. The communication device 600may be a UE, eNB, PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobile telephone, asmartphone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or anycommunication device capable of executing instructions (sequential orotherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that communicationdevice. Further, while only a single communication device isillustrated, the term “communication device” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of communication devices that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), and other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example,circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to externalentities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. Inan example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwareprocessors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g.,instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a modulethat operates to perform specified operations. In an example, thesoftware may reside on a communication device-readable medium. In anexample, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of themodule, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times. Thesoftware may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

Communication device (e.g., UE) 600 may include a hardware processor 602(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 604, a static memory 606, and mass storage 607 (e.g., hard drive,tape drive, flash storage, or other block or storage devices), some orall of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g.,bus) 608.

The communication device 600 may further include a display device 610,an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thedisplay device 610, input device 612 and UI navigation device 614 may bea touchscreen display. The communication device 600 may additionallyinclude a signal generation device 618 (e.g., a speaker), a networkinterface device 620, and one or more sensors 621, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or anothersensor. The communication device 600 may include an output controller628, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, orother wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication(NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheraldevices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

The storage device 607 may include a communication device-readablemedium 622, on which is stored one or more sets of data structures orinstructions 624 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one ormore of the techniques or functions described herein. In some aspects,registers of the processor 602, the main memory 604, the static memory606, and/or the mass storage 607 may be, or include (completely or atleast partially), the device-readable medium 622, on which is stored theone or more sets of data structures or instructions 624, embodying orutilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions describedherein. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor602, the main memory 604, the static memory 606, or the mass storage 616may constitute the device-readable medium 622.

As used herein, the term “device-readable medium” is interchangeablewith “computer-readable medium” or “machine-readable medium”. While thecommunication device-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a singlemedium, the term “communication device-readable medium” may include asingle medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributeddatabase, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store theone or more instructions 624.

The term “communication device-readable medium” is inclusive of theterms “machine-readable medium” or “computer-readable medium”, and mayinclude any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carryinginstructions (e.g., instructions 624) for execution by the communicationdevice 600 and that cause the communication device 600 to perform anyone or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that iscapable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by orassociated with such instructions. Non-limiting communicationdevice-readable medium examples may include solid-state memories andoptical and magnetic media. Specific examples of communicationdevice-readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such assemiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory(EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internalhard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; Random AccessMemory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples,communication device-readable media may include non-transitorycommunication device-readable media. In some examples, communicationdevice-readable media may include communication device-readable mediathat is not a transitory propagating signal.

The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 626 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 620 utilizing any one of a number of transferprotocols. In an example, the network interface device 620 may includeone or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) orone or more antennas to connect to the communications network 626. In anexample, the network interface device 620 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one ofsingle-input-multiple-output (SIMO), MIMO, ormultiple-input-single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, thenetwork interface device 620 may wirelessly communicate using MultipleUser MIMO techniques.

The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions forexecution by the communication device 600, and includes digital oranalog communications signals or another intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such software. In this regard, a transmission medium inthe context of this disclosure is a device-readable medium.

A communication device-readable medium may be provided by a storagedevice or other apparatus which is capable of hosting data in anon-transitory format. In an example, information stored or otherwiseprovided on a communication device-readable medium may be representativeof instructions, such as instructions themselves or a format from whichthe instructions may be derived. This format from which the instructionsmay be derived may include source code, encoded instructions (e.g., incompressed or encrypted form), packaged instructions (e.g., split intomultiple packages), or the like. The information representative of theinstructions in the communication device-readable medium may beprocessed by processing circuitry into the instructions to implement anyof the operations discussed herein. For example, deriving theinstructions from the information (e.g., processing by the processingcircuitry) may include: compiling (e.g., from source code, object code,etc.), interpreting, loading, organizing (e.g., dynamically orstatically linking), encoding, decoding, encrypting, unencrypting,packaging, unpackaging, or otherwise manipulating the information intothe instructions.

In an example, the derivation of the instructions may include assembly,compilation, or interpretation of the information (e.g., by theprocessing circuitry) to create the instructions from some intermediateor preprocessed format provided by the machine-readable medium. Theinformation, when provided in multiple parts, may be combined, unpacked,and modified to create the instructions. For example, the informationmay be in multiple compressed source code packages (or object code, orbinary executable code, etc.) on one or several remote servers. Thesource code packages may be encrypted when in transit over a network anddecrypted, uncompressed, assembled (e.g., linked) if necessary, andcompiled or interpreted (e.g., into a library, stand-alone executableetc.) at a local machine, and executed by the local machine.

Although an aspect has been described with reference to specificexemplary aspects, it will be evident that various modifications andchanges may be made to these aspects without departing from the broaderscope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specification anddrawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense. This Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in alimiting sense, and the scope of various aspects is defined only by theappended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which suchclaims are entitled.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), theapparatus comprising: processing circuitry, wherein to configure the UEfor enhanced coverage (EC) in a 5G network, the processing circuitry isto: encode N1 configuration request signaling for transmission to anAccess and Mobility Function (AMF) of the 5G network, the N1configuration request signaling including an EC support capabilityindication of whether the UE supports restriction for EC; decode N1configuration response signaling from the AMF, the N1 configurationresponse signaling including EC restriction information, wherein the ECrestriction information is determined based on the EC support capabilityindication and subscription information of the UE; perform an ECrestriction determination using the EC restriction information, the ECrestriction determination to determine a coverage enhancement (CE) modeof operation; and select a cell from a plurality of available cellswithin the 5G network based on the enhanced coverage restrictiondetermination; and memory coupled to the processing circuitry, thememory configured to store the EC restriction information.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the EC restriction information indicatesone of: CE Mode B is restricted for the UE; CE Mode A and CE Mode B areboth restricted for the UE; and CE Mode A and CE Mode B are both notrestricted for the UE.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thesubscription information indicates whether the UE subscribes forenhanced coverage.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the subscriptioninformation is retrieved from a Unified Data Management (UDM) server orfrom a Universal Data Repository (UDR) of the 5G network.
 5. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the subscription information is retrievedfrom a Policy Control Function (PCF) of the 5G network using a Npcfservice operation.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the N1configuration request signaling is one of an initial registrationrequest message, a periodic registration request message, and a servicerequest message communicated to the AMF via a N1 interface.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the N1 configuration response signaling isa N1 registration accept message.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising transceiver circuitry coupled to the processing circuitry;and, one or more antennas coupled to the transceiver circuitry.
 9. Anapparatus of a network node providing an Access and Mobility Function(AMF) within a 5G network, the network node comprising: processingcircuitry, wherein to configure a User Equipment (UE) for enhancedcoverage (EC) within the 5G network, the processing circuitry is to:decode N1 configuration request signaling from the UE, the N1configuration request signaling including an EC support capabilityindication of whether the UE supports restriction for EC; retrievingaccess and mobility subscription information for the UE, the access andmobility subscription information indicating whether the UE subscribesfor enhanced coverage; determine EC restriction information for the UEbased on the EC support capability indication and the access andmobility subscription information; and encode N1 configuration responsesignaling for transmission to the UE, the N1 configuration responsesignaling including the determined EC restriction information; andmemory coupled to the processing circuitry, the memory configured tostore the EC restriction information.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the processing circuitry is further to: retrieve the access andmobility subscription information from a Unified Data Management (UDM)server of the 5G network using a Nudm_SDM_Get service operation.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:retrieve the access and mobility subscription information from aUniversal Data Repository (UDR) of the 5G network using a Nudr_UDM_Queryservice operation; and store the determined EC restriction informationin a UE context associated with the UE.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the EC restriction information indicates one of: coverageenhancement (CE) Mode B is restricted for the UE; CE Mode A and CE ModeB are both restricted for the UE; and CE Mode A and CE Mode B are bothnot restricted for the UE.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further to: retrieve the access and mobilitysubscription information from a Policy Control Function (PCF) of the 5Gnetwork using a Npcf service operation.
 14. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the processing circuitry is further to: decode an EC restrictionupdate information received from a Unified Data Management (UDM) serveror a Universal Data Repository (UDR) of the 5G network.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing circuitry is further to:update the access and mobility subscription information stored in a UEcontext associated with the UE, based on the EC restriction updateinformation.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium thatstores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a userequipment (UE) operating in a 5G network, the instructions to configurethe one or more processors to cause the UE to: encode N1 configurationrequest signaling for transmission to an Access and Mobility Function(AMF) of the 5G network, the N1 configuration request signalingincluding an enhanced coverage (EC) support capability indication ofwhether the UE supports restriction for EC; decode N1 configurationresponse signaling from the AMF, the N1 configuration response signalingincluding EC restriction information, wherein the EC restrictioninformation is determined based on the EC support capability indicationand subscription information of the UE; perform an EC restrictiondetermination using the EC restriction information, the EC restrictiondetermination to determine a coverage enhancement (CE) mode ofoperation; and select a cell from a plurality of available cells withinthe 5G network based on the enhanced coverage restriction determination.17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16,wherein the EC restriction information indicates one of: CE Mode B isrestricted for the UE; CE Mode A and CE Mode B are both restricted forthe UE; and CE Mode A and CE Mode B are both not restricted for the UE.18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16,wherein the subscription information indicates whether the UE subscribesfor enhanced coverage.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the subscription information is retrievedfrom: a Unified Data Management (UDM) server or from a Universal DataRepository (UDR) of the 5G network; or a Policy Control Function (PCF)of the 5G network using a Npcf service operation.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein: the N1configuration request signaling is one of an initial registrationrequest message, a periodic registration request message, and a servicerequest message communicated to the AMF via a N1 interface; and the N1configuration response signaling is a N1 registration accept message.